Haircut

A few weeks ago, Holden had his first official haircut. We went to a place especially designed for kids, paid the extra money that such places require, and watched him pretend to drive in a little toy car while the lady quickly cut his hair. For the most part, Holden did great, until the last few minutes when he anxiously announced that he was "all done" and was ready to leave the chair. This may be why his hair ended up looking a bit wonky on the back right side. But over all, his hair has grown nicely into a pretty good looking cut.

That said, we had a hard time with this rite of passage. It was sad to see his longer "surfer" hair get clipped. This is not only because Holden has (in my humble opinion) some of the most beautiful honey-colored hair you could find on a person, but also because the shorter cut makes his look like such a boy. And I don't mean that in a bad way. Boys are great. But we are already battling so many things--the toys, the clothes, etc--that attempt to force our little guy into some 'ideal' of masculinity. I love having a toddler who has not a care in the world about the length of his hair, about the style of his clothes. And I don't like the idea that this might change. But his hair was just getting a little too uncomfortable for the repeated heat waves, and, well...we were getting pressured by the grandparents. Yes, the pressure to conform into some kind of ideal of a boy starts early. But hair can always grow back.